Friday, March 30, 2012

Say Fable, Skyrim, and Dragon Age have a baby and Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning is the result and what a brilliant result it is. Not only is there a fantastic in depth story created by R.A. Salvatore, there is amazing art work done by Todd McFarlane and an incredible musical score by Grant Kirkhope. Last but not least, there is of course the game's executive designer, Ken Rolston. Together, these individuals made one hell of a RPG video game, that was not only fun to play, it's worth playing through again and again.

The story begins with your character finding himself or herself revived from death by a creation known as the Well Of Souls. This event has disrupted the threads of fate that affect the people and events of Amalur leaving you with no determined fate. This opens you up to many possibilities and of course there are those who would exploit it for their own personal gain.
With an opening like this, Kingdoms Of Amalur's story has a lot of depth and there are many possibilities that one can take as it progresses. There is so much to explore on the map and there is a freedom to it as you can explore as much as you like. The story line itself leads to you exploring the kingdom of Amalur even further opening up new areas and you are not isolated to just one location.
All the areas are beautifully done and are different from each other. No similarities or one map used repeatedly here. There is even a dangerous beauty and creativity to all the fantasy monsters that are a threat to you such as mountain trolls. Although you will see some of the same monsters in different areas as well as types of NPCs and other characters, it mixes together so well it doesn't hinder the game play or the story. The dialogue with characters is well written and even more refreshing, well acted. It's never boring and in some dialogues it even adds more to the tale.

One flaw Kingdoms Of Amalur has is a couple of the quests had a few bugs, such as the Shine And Shadow quest. The quest couldn't be finished because of the quest items not being in the inventory or the Boss for this particular quest just didn't show up. It wasn't a terribly trying ordeal, but it was something that was noticed and something that could and should be fixed. Other than that, there was no other technical issues with the game for me. The game didn't freeze once during all the hours of game play and the frame rate didn't drop, and because of how much fun I had with the game, a couple of quest bugs didn't bother me at all. But, let's move on to the rest of the good.

The core of Kingdoms Of Amalur is the combat throughout the game along with the ability to fully customize your character and play to your character's strengths due to your fate or lack of one. The possibilities are endless and you can even open up new job classes as your character levels up as the game progresses. Award points earned after leveling up can be put into three categories: Might, Finesse, and Sorcery giving you added abilities and status boosts associated with whichever job class you have chosen. Combine this with all the questing and yes, that includes all the side quests, five guild story arcs, and the downloadable content of The Legend Of Dead Kel, that could easily give you 100 hours or more of game time. To sum up, Kingdoms Of Amalur isn't just a run of the mill RPG. It's something more. It has a great mix of excellent story telling, amazing game play, and an exciting world to explore that promises tons of great adventure. Overall, it is a game worth having in a gamer's collection.

Monday, March 5, 2012

I know that I stated there was a small part of me that was skeptical, but after seeing the trailer for Assassin's Creed III that is no longer true. I am excited and quite pleased by this. I can't wait for October 30 to get here so I can play what looks like it's going to be another amazing installment in the Assassin's Creed series. Take a look for yourself and enjoy! http://assassinscreed.ubi.com/ac3/en-US/

I admit I have conflicting feelings on this. On the one hand, I'm not sure how I feel about it being set in the Revolutionary War period because I loved the game play of Italy and Constantinople. I'm also not sure how this particular time period would play out, it could be great or it could be unsatisfying and disappointing. On the other hand, I find myself excited by the cover art because it's interesting and makes me curious about what kind of character this protagonist could be and what the story for Assassin's Creed III would be like. I find myself wanting to know more about the game and about what the cover art means and could promise for the next installment of Assassin's Creed. It seems my excitement is outweighing my doubts and I am finding myself wishing the game was out now so I could play it.
What really interests me are the elements to this new character i.e. the weapons, and the clothing that hints at Native American influences. That could be a potentially fantastic and great character to play and could fit in with the Revolutionary War background because there could be other areas to explore such as France and England as well as early America. It opens up paths to endless possibilities for the game which in itself is quite exciting.
In the meantime, we'll just have to enjoy the art work and speculate among ourselves until Ubisoft reveals the full details on March 5, 2012. The release date for Assassin's Creed III is scheduled for October 30, 2012.

About Me

I'm married and a mother, but manage to find time for my gaming, writing, and film viewing. I'm also a huge nerd when it comes to anything with Hello Kitty or giant robots. It's a living. Mother Gamer is just my opinion about my personal gaming experience and other nerdy things I love. You may not agree and that's okay. Variety is what makes the world an awesome place. Happy gaming!